Chapter Twenty-Nine Finlyr
chapter twenty-nine
finlyr
‘She was a trickster and a thief,’ one of the Seaguardians sings along with the crowd, his back to us as he taps the side of his tankard in time with the beat.
Behind him on the docks, Saltswept stands huge and proud. In this light, and at this distance, the prow juts out and the figurehead of a barnacle-encrusted seamaiden greets us.
I take the dagger from my boot and hold it up to the moonlight, close to the Seaguardian’s throat. He stills at the cold of the blade.
‘Take off your jacket. Quickly now.’
The Seaguardian tries to turn to see his attacker, but I push the blade closer.
He wobbles on his feet, out of fear or inebriation.
Or both. He’s a tangle of limbs as he struggles to take off the white Seaguardian uniform, and I tear it from him.
He cries out in pain as I wrench his shoulder.
I shrug on the jacket, covered in muck but still the badge of authority we need.
We hoist ourselves up onto the ship’s ladder, one by one.
Painfully slowly, the shadows our friends.
We can only hope the impishness the women on land are spinning will last. Ris stays with me, uncoiling the tether and hauling the rope up with her as she climbs the ladder.
I’m the last one down here, and I take a packet of sleep dust Narra gave me.
A hedge witch’s last defence. I’m sorry she didn’t use it when the Seaguardians almost ruined Ligaya and Morna’s wedding, although I suppose unconscious Seaguardians at the inn would have raised a few questions.
I open the packet and blow it in the guard’s face.
He staggers on the dock, and I think he’s about to lose his footing when he gives a wild yell, trying to attract attention.
I go to grab him when something dark shoots down from the deck above me.
The Seaguardian falls into the water with a splash and a yell that is drowned out by the raucous cheering from the town square.
Then a mass of wet dark fur is by my feet, and Sinigang is panting.
We look at each other and then I pick him up, ignoring the blood on his mouth as I climb the ladder.
‘Oh, look at what they did to her,’ I say, looking around the main deck.
Close up, I can see the parts that have been replaced: that awful royal sigil, the weapons racks with their shiny cutlasses, their piles of white Seaguardian uniforms in trunks.
My hands and eyes rove over the familiar things that remain: the sculpted taffrail by a carpenter, the sturdy masts, crimson cloth-weave sails from a fabric trader, and the woven reeds that line the wooden planks harvested by my own hand.
‘Fin, can we set sail now?’
I look between the taffrail at the hubbub in town. I can’t see them but I hear Ligaya, Morna, and Narra on the edges, weaving their spell as they sing and clap. Then I peer into the dark water. Without his pristine jacket, the Seaguardian’s body can’t be seen.
We scramble up to the quarterdeck, and I grab Ris by the elbow, gesturing at her to cast off.
She follows my lead, pushing hard at the helm.
Isagani’s up in the crow’s nest, unfurling the sails so we can steer the boat out of the harbour.
They can’t catch us now. And by the time they’ve alerted the rest of the Seaguardians, we’ll be out of the bay.
‘I do like this game,’ Sinigang gives me a wicked grin.
‘I can’t believe we pulled it off!’ Isagani yells down to us.
Ris is slumped against the mast, looking at her shaking hands. Her face is pale, and I call to her gently, placing a hand on her arm. She looks at me, as if I’ve woken her from a nightmare.
‘I saw what he did.’
Sinigang, ears burning, pads over to us. ‘Did you think I only had sweet magic, Ris?’
‘We had to,’ I demur. ‘We needed to get out without being seen.’
Ris looks grim and stares at the blood spatter on my shirt from where Sinigang’s muzzle rubbed against me.
‘What’s going on?’ Isagani says, starting to descend from the crow’s nest. ‘Let’s go!’
‘We have to get out of here first,’ I say, and Ris eventually nods. ‘Isagani, get back up there!’
‘Are you sure she’s seaworthy?’ Ris asks, grabbing the tiller.
‘She’ll get us there, don’t worry,’ I say. ‘Gentlefolk, welcome aboard Saltswept.’
‘Celebrate later, Fin! They’re on our tail!’ Isagani shouts down.
‘Take this,’ I tell Ris. ‘You’re my first mate.’
‘Oh, how generous,’ she bites, as I leg it down to the captain’s quarters.
The familiar smell of cedar and resin. The shelf that homes my collection of tchotchkes from my travels. There are unfamiliar things, too, like velvet cushions and bags of nuts and seeds.
I grab my spyglass, still buried in my clothes chest, and return to the deck.
‘Yes, you beauty!’ I cry triumphantly, eyeing the shore in the distance.
Isagani wasn’t wrong. There are a couple of other vessels following in our wake, bells ringing aboard as a warning.
Sinigang whips his tail, and I feel the breeze increase. I stare at the otter-cat. ‘What? Narra told you I’d be useful.’ He smirks and spins his tail in circles, causing a wall of air to fill the sails.
‘Sinigang, you absolute legend! Do more of that.’
He begins to purr, vibrating violently. First his purrs shake the deck of the ship, then the waters around us jump and dance with the rhythm. It ripples out further, causing huge swells to form. Rogue waves emerge and roll off towards the shore, crashing against the Seaguardians’ vessels.
‘Holy Aistra, you’ll sink them!’ Ris shouts between breaths as she works.
‘Isn’t that the point?’ I yell back, bracing against the roiling.
The ships struggle against the waves, changing course and spreading out.
‘They’re going to pin us!’ I call to Isagani. ‘How far ’til we’re out of the bay?’
Isagani braces against the crow’s nest as the mast is blasted with spray. ‘Not far. Can we outrun them?’
Sinigang looks exhausted, still bloodied about the mouth, and his pupils blown out. ‘Got a little more in you?’ I ask.
‘Trim those sails and we’ll see.’
The otter-cat ceases his purring and whips his tail in slow fluid motions.
The waves break, and we catch the wind, and I steer into it as we haul away.
The Seaguardians lag, still pursuing us, but we’ve put some distance between us.
There’s no chance of them pincering us now.
We clear the bay and push into open water just as Sinigang lets out a yowl and collapses from the taffrail.